The Secretary to the Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi, has admitted that some government entities are still making expenditures outside their approved budgets without obtaining the required authorisation from the ministry of Finance.
Ggoobi told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (Central Government) that some government officials were manipulating budget allocations and making unauthorised expenditures, despite clear procedures requiring them to seek approval before spending public funds.
He said the Ministry of Finance was aware of the practice and was taking action against officials found to have violated budgetary requirements.
“Mr chairman, I think you know these budget games. Some of the officers have a way of playing with money, but when we get to know about them, we reprimand them,” Ggoobi told the committee.
He added that any government official who makes financial commitments or spends public money without his knowledge should be held accountable.
“Whoever acts against my knowledge must be reprimanded, and I want to know some of these,” he said.
Ggoobi was appearing before the committee, chaired by Kassanda North MP Patrick Nsamba Oshabe, to respond to queries arising from the Auditor General’s reports on government expenditure and accountability.
The committee expressed concern that several government entities continued to incur expenditures without the PSST’s authorisation, raising questions about the effectiveness of financial controls within government institutions.
“Many entities spend without your authorisation. We have interacted with more of these,” Nsamba told Ggoobi.
Elgon County MP Mudimi Wamakuyu also questioned why government entities were able to spend money without obtaining the necessary approval from the Ministry of Finance.
Wamakuyu suggested that some officials might be interpreting the PSST’s guidance to operate within limited budgets as permission to spend money beyond approved allocations.
“In some cases, when they seek your approval, you tell them you have a limited budget and they should work within that. To them, they take that as authorisation,” Wamakuyu said.
Nsamba warned Ggoobi that the continued occurrence of such expenditures suggested that the financial controls under his supervision were not sufficiently effective.
“You put your guard down, Mr PSST,” Nsamba told him.
The MPs also questioned the Ministry of Finance officials over differences in prices paid by government entities for similar items, particularly motor vehicles.
They wondered why government institutions were purchasing similar vehicles at different prices, yet in some cases the suppliers were almost the same.
The MPs said the differences raised concerns about government procurement practices and the possibility of some institutions paying more than necessary for goods and services.
In response, officials from the Ministry of Finance told the committee that they were working towards identifying a common distributor for selected items that could supply all government entities.
They said the arrangement was intended to improve coordination, standardise prices and potentially reduce the cost of government procurement.
The committee also questioned the officials about Shs24 billion which the Auditor General had identified as unspent money but whose whereabouts and accountability remained unclear to the MPs.
Nsamba said the amount was too substantial to be treated lightly, arguing that the money could have supported important public services such as the construction of health centres and schools.
“Shs24 billion is too much money. Just because these people have made money so easily, you may think it is little, but this can build health centres and schools,” Nsamba told journalists.
He questioned why such a large amount of public money could remain unaccounted for while communities across the country continued to struggle with inadequate public infrastructure and services.
The committee directed Ggoobi and his team to prepare and return for another meeting to respond to the outstanding queries raised in the Auditor General’s reports.
The MPs said they wanted clearer explanations from the Ministry of Finance on unauthorised spending, procurement price differences and the Shs24 billion in unspent funds.
